开云体育

I'm thinking hard about doing a README for the wiki.
After some initial comments about VNA's and the nanoVNA in particular,
it would then attempt to describe at least some of the other materials in the wiki.
Will post it for corrections, and to see if the group can agree on where it should be placed.
Browsing the materials in the wiki and making a few notes to myself
is something I should do anyway.


I had previously said:

The three part nanoVNA tutorial from DG8GB looks very promising,

Part 2 looks like good stuff, but is by no means an introductory tutorial:

On page 10 he starts on how to use nanovna-saver with your nanoVNA-H.
He recommends 18ghz Huber Suhner coax, torquing the SMA's to 0.45Nm,
using a Wheatstone bridge to determine the true resistance of your 50 ohm load,
and describes how to compensate for the 50.7ps delay through an SMA adapter.
On page 12 he lists the various display options, you had best know what a VNA is.

The wiki gives the DG8GB tutorial equal footing with HexAndFlex, which is quite basic:


I think that's a fair example of why we need some sort of guide.

Jerry, KE7ER


On Mon, Aug 10, 2020 at 04:52 AM, Oristo wrote:

no one has approached me to help them with adding content
(I can't speak for Oristo, Herb or the other wiki contributors).
Comments?

Occasional private emails suggest or provoke Wiki edits,
but (so far) neither volunteers nor requests for assistance editing it,
much less pull requests to linked GitHub deliverables.

Some of the material in the wiki is excellent. Much of it is not.

I can imagine:
1) adding a "Welcome! read this first!!!" pointer to some best-of,
step-by-step introductory guide
at the Wiki main page top
2) relocating "Much of it is not" materials to "for more information" or
"related content" pages

... but such actions suppose specific consensuses of opinion about excellence

Lacking access to (and motivation to acquire) other than a second generation
clone,
I am poorly positioned to generate / edit content for other / new (e.g. -F, V2
or V3) hardware;
my clone has VBAT diode and bootloader switch modifications
(failed EMI shielding and absorber mods since removed)
but component changes for neither bridge, bypass nor SD card..

Bill,

A few quick questions, one word answers are fine:

Was there a specific tutorial that got you over the hump
in figuring out the nanoVNA well enough for a first successful use?
If so, which tutorial?

Did you step into this having already used some other VNA?

Jerry

Hi,

I am happy with the WIKI and the group files. I went from zero to successful use of my nanoVNA strictly on the info I found through the group and the WIKI :)

73,

Bill KU8H

bark less - wag more

Hi Bill -

some of the information in the io group useful and productive.

Specific feedback about which are more and less useful can promote improvements.

I am not qualified to edit the WIKI

Wiki editing can be tedious, but it is not hard.

On the other hand I have not complained about it

For those uncomfortable complaining about something "free",
I more often than not make edits >>in response to specifics<< from direct emails.

The small lightweight nanoVNA is hard for me to hold, so I made stand to hold it. The fold up stand is very convenient to use, holds the unit at the proper angle for viewing and protects the switches and connectors from damage.

The stand is built from a scrap piece of nylon from a kitchen cutting board my wife threw away. Dollar Tree has a suitable small $1.00 cutting board that would work perfectly. I removed the back cover of the vna and used it as a drill template to drill the four small mounting holes. I carefully countersunk the small holes leaving a 0.030 inch flange for the mounting screw head to catch in order to secure the unit. The other holes were drilled freehand and used to form the hinge on top and The tension straps on the bottom. I used wax coated wire lacing string to tie the front and back leg together as shown.

After attaching the vna to the front piece, I drilled two more holes to strain relief the USB cable. I folded a business card up to form a shim underneath the USB cable so when I tied it no pressure was introduced to the socket/plug assembly. I leave my coax cables attached all the time too and was considering a similar strain relief, but I left plenty of material to the left of the connectors and have not seen the need yet. I leave the coax cables attached to put all the wear on the cables rather than the VNA’s connectors. The large hole On the top right is used to tie a safety string when I am working outside. I use a stylus to tun the unit off and on and operate the touch screen which has a cell phone screen protector attached.

I power the unit with a small USB battery pack that powers the unit for several days. I also left material on the right hand side for attaching a post it note where I can make notes of how the unit is calibrated. A small laptop bag is used to store the unit adapters etc.

Dallas N5fee

Hi,

I am in low orbit around all of this with a nanoVNA in my tool kit and a tinySA ordered. I have found the WIKI and some of the information in the io group useful and productive. I am not qualified to edit the WIKI :) On the other hand I have not complained about it.

73,

Bill KU8H

bark less - wag more

On 8/10/20 7:52 AM, Oristo wrote:

no one has approached me to help them with adding content
(I can't speak for Oristo, Herb or the other wiki contributors).
Comments?

Occasional private emails suggest or provoke Wiki edits,
but (so far) neither volunteers nor requests for assistance editing it,
much less pull requests to linked GitHub deliverables.

----snip--------

no one has approached me to help them with adding content
(I can't speak for Oristo, Herb or the other wiki contributors).
Comments?

Occasional private emails suggest or provoke Wiki edits,
but (so far) neither volunteers nor requests for assistance editing it,
much less pull requests to linked GitHub deliverables.

Some of the material in the wiki is excellent. Much of it is not.

I can imagine:
1) adding a "Welcome! read this first!!!" pointer to some best-of, step-by-step introductory guide
at the Wiki main page top
2) relocating "Much of it is not" materials to "for more information" or "related content" pages

... but such actions suppose specific consensuses of opinion about excellence

Lacking access to (and motivation to acquire) other than a second generation clone,
I am poorly positioned to generate / edit content for other / new (e.g. -F, V2 or V3) hardware;
my clone has VBAT diode and bootloader switch modifications
(failed EMI shielding and absorber mods since removed)
but component changes for neither bridge, bypass nor SD card..

Thanks Roger,

If anyone can point me to more information on doing a clearconfig, I'll look into it.

So far, after getting the latest release loaded after having crashed it, it seems to be working. I'll have to do a few more tests with it, but calibration worked, the graphs are stable and some simple VSWR testing did yield the expected results. I'll test more tomorrow.

Please disregard my last post. It was ment for a different group. It was
due to a person wanting to basically erase that groups WIKI and put an
article he wrote as gospel on how to operate NanoVNA.
I pre wrote the message and clicked on the wrong link for posting.
Again please disregard my previous post.
Sorry for the confusion.
Clyde Lambert KC7BJE

In theory
NanoVNA is a USB device as far as the hardware / OS where NanoVNA_Saver is running is concerned.
The actual data passing thru the connection is pretty much immaterial as far as the connection goes.

The connecting process starts from USB device being plugged in and identifying itself to the OS.
In an essence the software running on OS - NanoVNA-Saver - gets the connection passed in by OS after it is already established.
So the "connect" button is pretty much just confirmation that connection has been established between the USB device ( NanoVNA) and OS.

Again - in theory - if you have "running OS " with NanoVNA connected / running and then execute "NanoVNA-Saver" software AND then execute the "connect " it should not crash IF the USB to OS connection is OK .

I do not have NanoVNA_Saver running so I may be using wrong terms for NanoVNA-Saver to connect or disconnect.

The idea of video playback never occurred to me, Larry.

I looked in the syslog, and it literally says, "nanovna-saver.py exited with unknown error"

You may be right, Jim. I haven't tried waiting more than a few minutes between plugging in the device and launching NonaVNA-Saver.

Then again, letting it crash and immediately relaunching is faster. :)

Thanks!

Charles,
When I get split second popups, I video the display and play back the video at a slow speed until I can stop it at the pop-up.?
Did you check your syslogs for error messages?



On Sun, 9 Aug 2020 at 10:21 PM, Charles Albert<cma_1956@...> wrote: After a few issues, I was able to get NanoVNA-Saver (Python) up and
running on my Linux Mint 19.3 machine. Everything seems to work just
fine but for one small problem...

Every time I start NanoVNA-Saver and hit the connect button on the main
screen, the program crashes and exits. (this happens so fast that I
can't see any error messages) BUT, if I immediately relaunch the program
and hit the connect button again, all is well. The software connects to
the device and begins doing everything it should.

Now, here comes the really odd bit...

If I disconnect from the device and exit NanoVNA-Saver, and then
relaunch, the same thing happens as above. If, however, I just exit
NanoVNA-Saver WITHOUT DISCONNECTING from the device and then relaunch,
the software will connect to the device and work just fine.

This is, to me, a minor thing. I've just been shrugging my shoulders and
relaunching so it will connect. Takes what? Maybe 10 seconds?

It just seems strange.

Take Care & 73
de KC6UFM
Charles

Steve,

Some developers recommend you do a Clearconfig 1234 (using a terminal program like putty) after a firmware update. This is followed by a touch screen calibration. Some "weird" issues have been solved this way. Maybe someone with experience on this topic can make a suggestion...

Roger

On 8/9/20 7:20 PM, Charles Albert wrote:

After a few issues, I was able to get NanoVNA-Saver (Python) up and running on my Linux Mint 19.3 machine. Everything seems to work just fine but for one small problem...
Every time I start NanoVNA-Saver and hit the connect button on the main screen, the program crashes and exits. (this happens so fast that I can't see any error messages) BUT, if I immediately relaunch the program and hit the connect button again, all is well. The software connects to the device and begins doing everything it should.
Now, here comes the really odd bit...
If I disconnect from the device and exit NanoVNA-Saver, and then relaunch, the same thing happens as above. If, however, I just exit NanoVNA-Saver WITHOUT DISCONNECTING from the device and then relaunch, the software will connect to the device and work just fine.
This is, to me, a minor thing. I've just been shrugging my shoulders and relaunching so it will connect. Takes what? Maybe 10 seconds?
It just seems strange.

I'm going to guess something about the drivers for the USB device - is it a serial port, I'm too lazy to go look how my nanoVNA shows up, but I do notice the software imports serial (i.e. Pyserial)

You might try reinstalling the Pyserial package. There's some "pip" command that does it - I use Anaconda, so there's a conda update thing too.

And there's always weirdnesses about USB serial ports - you plug it in, and it takes some amount of time before
a) /dev/tty... shows up
b) /dev/tty... is actually usable

After a few issues, I was able to get NanoVNA-Saver (Python) up and running on my Linux Mint 19.3 machine. Everything seems to work just fine but for one small problem...

Every time I start NanoVNA-Saver and hit the connect button on the main screen, the program crashes and exits. (this happens so fast that I can't see any error messages) BUT, if I immediately relaunch the program and hit the connect button again, all is well. The software connects to the device and begins doing everything it should.

Now, here comes the really odd bit...

If I disconnect from the device and exit NanoVNA-Saver, and then relaunch, the same thing happens as above. If, however, I just exit NanoVNA-Saver WITHOUT DISCONNECTING from the device and then relaunch, the software will connect to the device and work just fine.

This is, to me, a minor thing. I've just been shrugging my shoulders and relaunching so it will connect. Takes what? Maybe 10 seconds?

It just seems strange.

Take Care & 73
de KC6UFM
Charles

Larry,

I've only looked at a few pieces.
Perhaps in a week or so I'll come up with the text file mentioned here:
/g/nanovna-users/message/16415

If deemed appropriate (and if I get it done), we'll post it to the wiki.
I'm not saying we should significantly alter the wiki,
but rather to provide a way to navigate it.

The three part nanoVNA tutorial from DG8GB looks very promising,
one part each for the "classic", the -H, and the -H4.

I believe what he refers to as the -H2 is what most people refer to as the -H.

For starting out from ground zero, HexAndFlex might be hard to beat:


But then I have not looked over much more than the above two.

Jerry, KE7ER

Hi Jerry,
What areas of the forum Wiki do you think are very good?
What part(s) of the forum wiki's material don't you feel is up to par?

Only a handful of members have contributed and/or edited the wiki out of a membership of close to 7000 yet ANY member can add content or upload documents to the files area.?
When I ask those members that have issues with the content to feel free to add their own notes, I see nothing (for the most part) and no one has approached me to help them with adding content (I can't speak for Oristo, Herb or the other wiki contributors).?
Comments?
... Larry



On Sun, 9 Aug 2020 at 6:30 PM, Jerry Gaffke via groups.io<jgaffke@...> wrote: I worked as an EE for decades in digital design
RF is a bit foreign at times, but I'd guess I'm better off than the typical user.

Some of the material in the wiki is excellent.
Much of it is not.
Some of it is simply way over the top technically for most users.
Telling somebody who can't figure out their nanoVNA to just check the wiki
without further guidance is likely leave them feeling stupid and inadequate.

Clyde wrote:

It appears this person is just trying to get a copy of an article that, HE
HIMSELF, has written as he refers to his article on another web site.
I read the reference article he referred to and found NO additional
information that is not covered in the group WIKI.

You might include a snippet of what you are responding to.
I have no idea what article that might be.

I would be skeptical of any unknown person or persons being allowed to
change the information in the groups WIKI, without the review of such info
by the group Admin.

I believe the wiki is open to all forum members.
The admin likely has no interest in policing the wiki.

Just the view of a newbie, that has found the information presented by this
group, to be educational and helpful in understanding and using the NanoVNA.

Glad to hear it's working for you.

Jerry, KE7ER


On Sun, Aug? 9, 2020 at 02:43 PM, Clyde Lambert wrote:

I do not know who this guy is, not even sure he is a licensed ham, but as a
newbie to VNAs myself, I found the Wiki does have a overwhelming amount of
info. However, if one takes it step by step, I see absolutely no problem
with it.
There are several ebooks on Amazon that clearly explains, that if one can
read, the NanoVNAs from a compleat explanation of VNAs to full engineering
aspects and use.
In fact the VNA guide on Wiki also fits that bill.
If one is overwhelmed by what is presented in the group WIKI, then they
need to learn how to reasurch a topic one step at a time.
It appears this person is just trying to get a copy of an article that, HE
HIMSELF, has written as he refers to his article on another web site.
I read the reference article he referred to and found NO additional
information that is not covered in the group WIKI.
I would be skeptical of any unknown person or persons being allowed to
change the information in the groups WIKI, without the review of such info
by the group Admin.

Just the view of a newbie, that has found the information presented by this
group, to be educational and helpful in understanding and using the NanoVNA.

Clyde Lambert KC7BJE

I worked as an EE for decades in digital design
RF is a bit foreign at times, but I'd guess I'm better off than the typical user.

Some of the material in the wiki is excellent.
Much of it is not.
Some of it is simply way over the top technically for most users.
Telling somebody who can't figure out their nanoVNA to just check the wiki
without further guidance is likely leave them feeling stupid and inadequate.

Clyde wrote:

It appears this person is just trying to get a copy of an article that, HE
HIMSELF, has written as he refers to his article on another web site.
I read the reference article he referred to and found NO additional
information that is not covered in the group WIKI.

You might include a snippet of what you are responding to.
I have no idea what article that might be.

I would be skeptical of any unknown person or persons being allowed to
change the information in the groups WIKI, without the review of such info
by the group Admin.

I believe the wiki is open to all forum members.
The admin likely has no interest in policing the wiki.

Just the view of a newbie, that has found the information presented by this
group, to be educational and helpful in understanding and using the NanoVNA.

Glad to hear it's working for you.

Jerry, KE7ER


On Sun, Aug 9, 2020 at 02:43 PM, Clyde Lambert wrote:

I do not know who this guy is, not even sure he is a licensed ham, but as a
newbie to VNAs myself, I found the Wiki does have a overwhelming amount of
info. However, if one takes it step by step, I see absolutely no problem
with it.
There are several ebooks on Amazon that clearly explains, that if one can
read, the NanoVNAs from a compleat explanation of VNAs to full engineering
aspects and use.
In fact the VNA guide on Wiki also fits that bill.
If one is overwhelmed by what is presented in the group WIKI, then they
need to learn how to reasurch a topic one step at a time.
It appears this person is just trying to get a copy of an article that, HE
HIMSELF, has written as he refers to his article on another web site.
I read the reference article he referred to and found NO additional
information that is not covered in the group WIKI.
I would be skeptical of any unknown person or persons being allowed to
change the information in the groups WIKI, without the review of such info
by the group Admin.

Just the view of a newbie, that has found the information presented by this
group, to be educational and helpful in understanding and using the NanoVNA.

Clyde Lambert KC7BJE

I do not know who this guy is, not even sure he is a licensed ham, but as a
newbie to VNAs myself, I found the Wiki does have a overwhelming amount of
info. However, if one takes it step by step, I see absolutely no problem
with it.
There are several ebooks on Amazon that clearly explains, that if one can
read, the NanoVNAs from a compleat explanation of VNAs to full engineering
aspects and use.
In fact the VNA guide on Wiki also fits that bill.
If one is overwhelmed by what is presented in the group WIKI, then they
need to learn how to reasurch a topic one step at a time.
It appears this person is just trying to get a copy of an article that, HE
HIMSELF, has written as he refers to his article on another web site.
I read the reference article he referred to and found NO additional
information that is not covered in the group WIKI.
I would be skeptical of any unknown person or persons being allowed to
change the information in the groups WIKI, without the review of such info
by the group Admin.

Just the view of a newbie, that has found the information presented by this
group, to be educational and helpful in understanding and using the NanoVNA.

Clyde Lambert KC7BJE